The pyroelectric effect originates when a pyroelectric material is subjected to a temperature gradient causing a charge to develop across the capacitor's metal electrodes. This temperature gradient results in a current or a voltage signal originating from the material. This is called the pyroelectric effect. The magnitude of these signals is very small and must be monitored with great caution. Un-cooled infrared (IR) pyroelectric detectors make use of this pyroelectric property of a material. Unlike photonic detectors, which are based on semiconductors and must operate at very low temperatures, uncooled pyroelectric detectors do not require cryogenic cooling and can generally operate at room temperature, which is advantageous over photonic detectors requiring cryogenic cooling. Un-cooled detectors are lightweight, compact and have many applications including night vision imagers, gas sensors, human and animal body temperature detectors, alarm systems (fire and intruder), etc. All these devices except the night vision imagers have low density array and they usually operate in either the voltage mode or in the current mode. However, the detection signal is generally at very low levels and requires sophisticated amplification before utilization.
Therefore, what is needed is a pyroelectric capacitor configured to provide signals, either voltage or current, with a sensitivity sufficient for low-density arrays and with a greater signal strength than conventional pyroelectric capacitors. The described invention overcomes many of the challenges found in the art, some of which are described above.